This post is part of the World Population Week blogathon.

India’s dichotomous nature is visible in all aspects of its economic, social and political growth. India is rapidly developing into an economic super-power, yet its development is not well rounded. This is reflected in the status of women in the Indian society. A 21st century Indian girl is smart, educated and equal, yet this picture represents a very small percentage of the Indian female population. Women leaders may be ruling the roost, directly or indirectly, the women’s reservation bill may see the light of the day soon, prestigious national and state level exams may be cracked by female candidates; yet these developments have failed to transform India into a country which is perceived as a safe birth place for a girl child or a haven for a woman.

A global survey released by TrustLaw, a Thomson Reuters Foundation service in June, states that India is the world's fourth most dangerous country for someone to be born as a woman (http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/special-coverage-the-worlds-most-dangerous-countries-for-women/). 100 million Indian women and girls are estimated to be involved in trafficking, while 50 million girls are called ‘missing’ over the past century due to female infanticide and foeticide. These findings were preceded by reports of a growing number of affluent, educated and fertile Indians going to foreign destinations where doctors use a method which involves producing embryos through IVF and implanting only those of the desired gender (male) into the womb (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis-PGD).

An even more shocking scenario which was highlighted by a report published by Hindustan Times in the last week of June, describing how genitoplasty (surgery to make female genitals appear male) was being performed on hundreds of girls, including some who were as young as one, every day on the instructions of wealthy parents from Delhi and Mumbai - despite the warning that the “converted boy” would be infertile. Indian laws prohibit sex determination tests during pregnancy so as to help stamp out the practice of women aborting female foetuses, but procedures like these side step such legal issues. These procedures sacrifice the rights of a child who is barely old enough to speak to choose her own gender, underscoring that girls/women face very pronounced dangers and discrimination that starts before birth.

Abortion of female foetuses, violence and neglect exerted against girls because of dowries and discrimination against women are internationally recognised as a human rights violation which can cause severe physical and psychological damage and even death.

There is a lack of political will, money and human resources for gender policies and laws. Hopefully these new reports will act as alarm bells for waking the government, people and the civil society, such that they double their efforts in standing up for women’s rights and supporting policies which empower women rather than disenfranchising them.